After having repeatedly opined about this on Twitter, liberal British journalist and reality TV star Piers Morgan took to the airwaves of FNC’s On the Record Tuesday night to continue his verbal assault against Michelle Fields and Florida police for pressing charges against Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a scrum which Piers dubbed “pathetic” and “utterly pointless.”
Morgan also worried that the incident and subsequent battery charges could harm the state of American journalism and diminish any future role of women in the profession over fears that they’ll press charges against anyone that they believe has improperly touched them.
Speaking with host Greta Van Susteren, Morgan began the three-minute diatribe by slamming the matter as “one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen” and proclaimed that “anyone with a brain thinks that is some kind of assault or battery, they’re living in cloud cuckoo land.”
The former Celebrity Apprentice contestant brushed it aside as a “run of the mill scrum which follows any presidential candidate” and ruled that if he were still a newspaper editor, he would have been apoplectic at Fields for “taking legal action and going to the police and prosecuting over some kind of fatuous claim to being battered.”
“Really? Has it come to this? Has America and the political system now meant that journalists following in a scrum like this can go after people for battery when we are watching a video which to me is utterly tame and utterly pointless,” Morgan lamented.
When Van Susteren similarly complained that the media grew “so consumed with this and this actually did get a live of its own,” Morgan piled on by making clear that he has “nothing against Michelle Fields” but inferred that other female journalists like Christiane Amanpour and Diane Sawyer wouldn’t have pressed charges and continued on with their work.
Before complimenting Van Susteren on being a “tough cookie” who wouldn’t have gone to police if she was grabbed, Morgan concluded:
That is what proper journalists do and to try to claim this is some kind of battery — let me try and put it in this way. If she had been a male reporter, do you think anybody would have done anything but laugh this claim out of court and out of America? And that's, I think, where you have to look at this.
The relevant portion of the transcript from FNC’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren on April 5 can be found below.
FNC’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren
April. 5, 2016
7:52 p.m. EasternGRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Alright. I know that you have got into this. You got into a Twitter discussion about the reporter that got into — had a run-in with the campaign manager that Trump campaign. Your thoughts about that because you were actually quite vocal on Twitter?
PIERS MORGAN: I thought it was one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen. You know, I have been an on-the-road reporter. Greta, you’re a tough journalist. You know, the idea that you watch that video and anyone with a brain thinks that is some kind of assault or battery, they’re living in cloud cuckoo land. This is the run of the mill scrum which follows any presidential candidate. I would have — I used to be a newspaper editor. If that would have been one of my journalists, Michelle Fields, I would have watched the video and sent her a bonus saying fantastic work getting your foot in the door, getting past the Secret Service, getting to the man, Donald Trump, and asking questions, but if I then discovered that she was actually taking legal action and going to the police and prosecuting over some kind of fatuous claim to being battered, I would have said are you kidding me? Really? Has it come to this? Has America and the political system now meant that journalists following in a scrum like this can go after people for battery when we are watching a video which to me is utterly tame and utterly pointless.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you think the media got so consumed with this and this actually did get a live of its own, the whole incident?
MORGAN: The media, as we know, is brilliant at naval gazing. Now, we’re great talking about ourselves. Nothing like we like more than chewing each other up. I have nothing against Michelle Fields. I don’t know Michelle Fields, From all accounts, she’s a perfectly competent reporter. As I say, I watched the video and former editor said to me, well done. You got near Trump. You beat the secret service. You got a question in. What would Christiane Amanpour, what would Katie Couric, what would Barbara Walters or Diane Sawyer have done if they had been brushed away like that by Corey Lewandowski. I’ll tell you what they would have done. They would have dusted themselves down and run after Trump and try to get another question. That is what proper journalists do and to try to claim this is some kind of battery — let me try and put it in this way. If she had been a male reporter, do you think anybody would have done anything but laugh this claim out of court and out of America? And that's, I think, where you have to look at this.
VAN SUSTEREN: Piers, the thing is a lot of us fought really hard to get in to the scrum, do you know, to get equal chance and that's the one thing that I worry about is that, you know, I want women still to have an opportunity. I'm not in favor of anyone getting assaulted. Believe me, but it’s like, we women fought so hard to be part of the game, you know. But, anyway.
MORGAN: Yeah. If that would have been you, Greta, I know what you would have done because you are a tough cookie. You’re a tough journalist. You wouldn't have screamed battery.
VAN SUSTEREN: I will take that as a compliment.
MORGAN: You would had done with after them and gotten another question.
